After Years of Death and Destruction, Japan Caves and Makes Godzilla a Citizen

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Godzilla, the only giant lizard to ever have an entire Blue Oyster Cult song devoted to him, is moving up in the world. The legendary kaiju already had fame, fortune (smart investments on real estate devalued by Godzilla damage) and the love of millions of fans, not to mention the Superman-level status of having pretty much everyone in the world know his name even if they’ve never seen one of his movies. Now, he has something he’s been waiting for since 1954: Citizenship.

In April, Toho — the studio where Godzilla originated — installed a 40-foot high Godzilla head on the roof of its building in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, effectively making the monster a permanent resident. To commemorate the occasion, the Japanese government issued Godzilla official citizenship papers, and designated him a “special envoy for tourism”, which hopefully means men in Godzilla costumes will begin greeting every single visitor to Japan at the airport.

So, Godzilla is no longer an illegal, nuclear fire-breathing, city-destroying resident of Japan. Now, if only New York City would ditch Taylor Swift as its tourism ambassador and draft King Kong…